Trinity Seven: Infinity Wizard
by Yami no Paladin
Summary: The world as Kasuga Arata knew it was destroyed in a phenomenon known as the Sabbat. Crossing paths with Asami Lilith, a mage and Wizard, he is drawn into the world of magic as a fresh mage and seeks out the power of the Trinity Seven, seven powerful mages of the highest caliber, to find his missing cousin. Crossover with Kamen Rider Wizard.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome, minions...Just kidding. Thanks for deciding to click on this thing. This is my first attempt at a crossover, with Kamen Rider Wizard and Trinity Seven, because...magic.**

**This is gonna be sort of a pet project for when I'm stuck for my main story. Those who read it, you'll know. Those who don't, check out my profile if you're interested.**

**I just wanna make it clear that I'm pretty much cribbing the entirety of Trinity Seven's story, with some original portions for the Rider battles, but some stuff is modified, so skip at your own risk.**

**And since I'm cribbing the storyline, I'll have to put this disclaimer below, I guess.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Trinity Seven nor any of its characters (I'd like to though). I also don't own Kamen Rider Wizard or any related property. Except for my toys. Those are mine.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: End of the World and Wizard<p>

* * *

><p><em>"Don't ever forget about me, alright?"<em>

Darkness.

He felt suffocating pressure all around him, yet his eyes, wide open, saw nothing.

A faint glow drew his attention, his vision blurring from the break in the gloom.

_Who-?_

A figure floated before him, a mere silhouette cast against the light.

_I…I have to get to her!_

He reached his hand to the figure, yet it seemed as though distance itself was stretched between them.

_She's so close, I have to-!_ He stretched further and his fingertips neared the figure. At the same time, the silhouette reached out for him as well.

_A little more…_

As their fingertips were about to connect…

*Boing*

His hand registered elasticity and softness, under a soft fabric.

Kasuga Arata opened his bleary eyes. Following his outstretched arm upwards, he found his hand firmly gripping onto…a breast.

A girl with short light blue hair frowned at Arata, her face glowing in embarrassment. She was dressed in a white sailor fuku, with a red ribbon, and a black skirt.

"Oh, Hijiri…" Arata sat up on his bed. "Good morning. Breakfast?" He gave a grin.

"Don't you 'Breakfast?' me!" Kasuga Hijiri shouted. A loud slap rang through the apartment that was the Kasuga residence.

* * *

><p>Arata stared at his cousin's pouting face across the table, a red hand mark still throbbing on his cheek.<p>

"Come on, you're still mad?" he mumbled through another mouthful of rice.

"Don't you have something to say?" Hijiri replied.

Arata put down his chopsticks and crossed his arms in thought. Then, he snapped his fingers, as if he came upon a brilliant answer.

"You've gotten bigger," he answered in a self-satisfied manner, with a thumbs-up and a huge smile on his face.

"That's not what I meant!" Hijiri shouted.

"Why? Bigger is good," Arata asked as he got back to his meal.

"That's not the problem here!" Hijiri retorted.

Arata let out a sigh. The two ate in silence for a few seconds.

"Look at that," he suddenly said, pointing to the wall to his left with his chopsticks.

On the wall was a crayon drawing of two people under a tree and a red sun in the sky. Scrawled on a blank spot in black crayon were the words 'I love Onii-chan'.

"You were such a sweet little girl back then, following me around going 'Onii-chan'. What happened to that girl?" Arata lamented.

"Why did you keep such an embarrassing picture? And you even put it on display!" Hijiri flailed her arms around, then rushed to tear the drawing off the wall.

Arata sniggered. "You're too late. I've already made it my phone wallpaper long ago!" He dramatically brandished the device in his cousin's face.

Hijiri gave a shriek and tried to grab Arata's phone. Casually turning around to avoid her, he grabbed his bag and black blazer and rushed out the door, Hijiri close behind.

"Hold on, time out!" he shouted while buttoning the blazer over his white shirt. Seeing his cousin continue to approach with a vindictive aura, Arata fled down the corridor.

Hijiri caught up with him soon enough, however, but he was let off with a light slap on the arm.

"Let's go, then," Arata grinned.

The duo made their way down their usual route to their high school, chatting casually along the way.

_Well, uneventful days like this are nice. _As Arata thought that, he looked up at the sky and felt a dissonance resound in his brain.

The sun, which he remembered from childhood to be a bright ball of heat and white light, was now completely black.

And not just simply black. The sun seemed to not only be dyed the color, but also exude a black miasma.

Beside him, Hijiri took a deep breath. "Isn't the weather great? I'm glad it's sunny out today."

"But hold on…" Arata began to say.

"Hm? What's wrong, Arata-san?"

"…Nothing. Must be my imagination," Arata shrugged.

As the duo continued on their way, Arata noticed a girl approaching them. The girl looked about the same age as him, with long, flowing pinkish-red hair. A lock on her right side was braided and hung in front of her right shoulder.

_A student from our school? Never seen her before. _Arata noted her uniform, which was the same as Hijiri's

_Even if I don't remember her face,_ Arata looked down to her impressive bust. _I_ _would remember those boobs. _

As the mysterious girl passed Arata, he heard her murmur something into his ear.

"Hurry up and awaken, Kasuga Arata. If you don't, I will have to kill you."

Arata felt a jolt through his body and he turned around, only to see an empty street.

_What the heck?_

* * *

><p>Throughout the morning's lessons, Arata couldn't pay attention, finding himself staring at the ominous-looking black sun.<p>

_It doesn't even hurt to stare at it…What kind of freaky situation is this? _Arata was beginning to doubt his own sanity.

_And then there's that thing…_

_"Hurry up and awaken, Kasuga Arata."_

_What's she on about? What do I need to wake up from?_

Arata was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he failed to notice the bell for lunch.

"Hey, Kasuga!" one of Arata's classmates called to him. Looking up, he saw Hijiri standing at the door.

"Your wife's here with lunch!" his classmate said with a grin.

"W-W-W-Wife?!" Hijiri's face flushed ruby red for the third time today.

"Can it, Arakawa. Quit teasing my cute little cousin," Arata casually cuffed his classmate's shoulder.

"Let's go," Arata said to Hijiri, closing the door on his classmates' cheers and wolf-whistles.

The two made their way to the rooftop, where Arata plopped himself onto his usual spot against the wall.

He stared up at the black sun again for a minute, then Hijiri stood in front of him, blocking his view.

"What's wrong, Arata-san?" Hijiri asked.

"Say, Hijiri," Arata began. "Was the sun always black?"

"…What are you talking about, Arata-san? The sun was always black, since before you were born to even after you die," Hijiri replied, smiling.

"Seriously?" Arata grinned back.

"Yeah. This is the kind of world you live in, and the exact world you wished for," Hijiri said, now bending down closer to his face.

"The world I wished for?" Arata was confused.

"Yes. A world where I'm here with you, and we enjoy our everyday life," Hijiri's tone took a dark edge as she lowered herself and sat on Arata's lap.

"So…" Hijiri's face was dusted with pink, and her eyes glinted dangerously. "It doesn't matter if the sun is black, does it?"

"In this world," Hijiri's fingers brushed against Arata's lips, then along her body. "Your very own Hijiri will do whatever you want. So, Arata-san…" Her fingers gripped the ends of her red ribbon and pulled.

Arata gulped at his cousin's boldness, but a sharp sting shot through the back of his head.

_"Don't ever forget about me, alright?"_

"Ah!" Arata's hand snapped to his head, gripping it to quell the pain.

"What's wrong?" Hijiri stopped her unravelling and got off Arata.

"…Are you really Hijiri?" Arata glared at the blue-haired girl in front of him.

The girl's ruby red eyes widened.

"Wh-What are you saying? Of course I am!" the girl said, standing up.

"I'm Kasuga Hijiri! Your cousin and childhood friend!" she continued with a little spin.

"…When's my birthday?" Arata narrowed his eyes.

"June 18th."

"What's my favorite food?"

"Fried chicken."

"Where do I hide my porn magazines?"

"Under a tile under your bed…Do you still not believe me? You know I won't lie to you!"

"…What color is the sun?"

"Of course it's black!"

"Wrong answer," Arata got up. He pulled out his phone. "If the sun was always black," He showed his wallpaper. "Then why did you draw the sun as red when we were little?"

The girl let out a small gasp.

"Hijiri's always been as honest as can be. She even told me off for coloring the sky indigo and not bright blue back then. So why would the picture not match the color of the sun? Exactly who are you?"

'Hijiri' lowered her gaze for a moment, then threw back her head in peals of laughter.

"Oh man, you got me there. Aren't you a little too observant? Trust you to figure it out from the drawing of a five-year-old," 'Hijiri' smirked, her voice changing to a mocking one.

A loud bang sounded from behind Arata, then a blue light shot towards 'Hijiri'. The light made contact, but the girl's body disintegrated into shadowy bits, then reformed.

"Hey, hey. Isn't that kind of a rude greeting, you mage?" 'Hijiri' said to someone above Arata. He turned around and saw a familiar girl.

"You finally showed yourself, cracker!" she shouted at 'Hijiri'.

"You're…that girl with outrageously huge boobs!" Arata shouted.

Standing on top of the water tank was the mysterious girl from that morning, but she was now dressed in a white sleeveless collared shirt, with a red tie, and a black miniskirt with black thigh-high socks. A black beret with a small red bow secured with a ruby sat on her head. In her hands was a huge rifle, the length easily surpassing her height. On her nose sat spectacles with a red lens, with the left side missing. Around her waist, a brown leather belt elf up her skirt, but the metal buckle was in the shape of an open hand, traced in gold and the fingers pointing down to the left.

Hearing Arata's cry, the girl quickly wrapped her left arm over her chest. "Wh-What do you mean by that? My name's Asami Lilith!"

The girl, Lilith, leapt off the water tank and landed in front of Arata and 'Hijiri'.

"What's with that amazingly sexy get-up?" Arata asked, trying to sound cool, but failing.

"Obviously, the battle suit for mages," Lilith replied.

"M-Mages?"

'Hijiri' giggled. "You should be getting a vague idea of what's happening, right?"

She brought her right foot forward and slowly drew a circle around her. From that arc, a ripple expanded through space itself. As the ripple passed, everything around Arata darkened and became ruins, as if left unused for years.

"What the-?" Arata gaped at the entire city, which had essentially become a ruined ghost town.

"This is the present state of your world, or at least, the world as you knew it," 'Hijiri' replied.

Lilith nodded. "Three days ago, a large-scale gravitation flux of unknown origin was detected in this area. We call this phenomenon the 'Sabbat'. This town was swallowed by the resulting explosion of space, and…"

Upon hearing her words, Arata felt his head hurt again, more intensely than before.

"Remember now?" 'Hijiri' asked.

_That's right…_ Arata thought. _I remember now._

* * *

><p><em>Arata watched as the bright sun became engulfed in inky blackness. Immediately, people around him started screaming. A man near him doubled over, glowing purple cracks opening all over his body. The man's body exploded to release a bluish humanoid with a rocky body, short orange horns and orange cracks. The buildings standing all around them began quickly eroding and collapsing, as if they were aging on fast-forward. <em>

_All around Arata, people began exploding into clouds of purple dust, leaving similar humanoids or even other monsters in their place. As Arata stood, dumbfounded, he felt a warm hand grab his wrist and pull him away from the chaos. _

_"Hi-Hijiri?" Arata gaped at his cousin. _

_"We don't have time, just follow me!" Hijiri's voice was tense. _

_Hijiri dragged Arata into the shadow of a large piece of a collapsed building, pulling them both into a crouching position. _

_"Hijiri, you know what's going on, right? So tell me-Ah!" Arata was stopped mid-sentence by a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and realized that a purple crack appeared on his clothes, as if his very being was breaking apart. _

_"This is bad…At this rate…" Hijiri mumbled. She dug in her pocket and pulled out something. _

_The item, on closer inspection, was a small book. The book was a small grey volume, about the size of Arata's palm. The book was bound with dark grey chains, locked with an intricate plus-shaped lock with a blue gem in the middle. _

_The book glowed in Arata's palm and the chains slid and wound around his arm. When the glow died, the book had vanished. In its place was a huge ring. _

_The portion where the gemstone was set was unnaturally large, with a huge clear crystal set into a silver bezel. Over the ring was a clear visor which had a trapezium on either side tapering towards the centre, forming bug eye shapes. _

_"Arata-san, take this," Hijiri quickly slipped the ring onto Arata's left hand, over his middle finger, which was also cracking apart. _

_"Hey, is this really the time for a proposal?"_

_"Please, save Arata-san. Grant his wish for him," Hijiri whispered to the ring. _

_"Who the heck are you talking to?" Arata demanded. _

_"Wake up on your own without me, alright?" Hijiri suddenly said. _

_"Huh?"_

_"Have three regular meals…remember to do the laundry every three days…and clean the apartment or it'll get…filthy…and…" Hijiri's voice started cracking badly. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to Arata's. Pulling away, she looked at him with tear-soaked eyes. _

_"Don't ever forget about me, alright?"_

_The moment those words exited Hijiri's mouth, her body began disintegrating into beads of bluish light. _

_"Wha-! Hijiri!" Arata reached out to grab his cousin's outstretched hand, but just as his fingertips were about to make contact with hers, her fingers disintegrated, along with the rest of her body. The last thing Arata saw of her was her teary, yet smiling, face. _

_Arata's hand closed around thin air, and he toppled over on his face. _

_"Hijiri…HIJIRI!" he screamed. _

_All too suddenly, his vision turned to black. All around him, a thick darkness that seemed to have a sticky texture engulfed him, though he still could see his body and hands clearly. They were still cracking apart into purple gaps. _

_"Stop fucking around! This is more than just a bad joke! Where is everyone?!"_

_He looked at the strange, heavy ring on his hand. _

_"Hey, whatever the hell you are, you can supposedly grant my wish, right?" he shouted at the ring. _

_"In that case, give me my normal everyday life back right now!"_

_As if responding to his yell, the clear gemstone unleashed a sudden, bright white glow that made Arata shut his eyes._

* * *

><p>Arata let out a gasp. The headache that sent white-hot stings through his head finally cleared.<p>

"I…made this…" he whispered.

"That's right," 'Hijiri' replied. "You wished for this, so I created this world just as you asked me to."

"I was surprised as well," Lilith added. "I was dispatched to this area to investigate the Sabbat that occurred here, but what I found was an intact town where there should be ruins."

'Hijiri' laughed. "It's as simple as a wave of a hand for the likes of me," she bragged.

"A dangerous grimoire…" Lilith cocked her rifle and expelled the shell.

"If you had failed, you would've increased the chances of Phantoms appearing instead of simply Ghouls. And creating another world on top of that…That's not something a normal grimoire can do!" she shouted at 'Hijiri'.

"That's exactly right," a male voice chimed in. The three turned to the door of the stairway, where a boy stood leaning against the doorframe.

"Arakawa?" Arata gaped. He quickly realized how bad the situation looked.

"Hold on, Arakawa, there's a reason for this-!"

"I know," Arakawa simply walked over casually. "You're a mage. And so is this girl here." He waved a hand to Lilith.

"No, that's not it!" Arata protested.

"More importantly, how does it feel?" Arakawa's eyes gained a predatory glint.

"Say what?"

"Your entire town, destroyed. Your cousin? Dead. You're simply clinging onto a shadow of her through that grimoire over there," Arakawa gestured to the blue-haired girl.

Lilith pointed her rifle at Arakawa. "Who are you?"

"Wait, it's my classmate, don't shoot h-" Arata began saying.

"No, no, Kasuga Arata. The human known as Arakawa Kouki is dead. He was sacrificed in the Sabbat and gave birth to a Phantom…me," 'Arakawa' gave a toothy smirk as blue, red and beige markings appeared over his face.

"Arakawa…" Arata felt his knees go weak.

With a roar, 'Arakawa' transformed. In place of the human, a humanoid bull stood. The humanoid was primarily blue, with beige armor covering his arms, legs and torso, as well as large shoulder pads. Grayish-white horns grew out of his head.

"Oh? A Phantom got pulled into the world?" the grimoire commented casually.

"Stay back!" Lilith shouted at the shaking Arata. "The situation got a whole lot more complicated."

Lilith's rifle glowed and disintegrated into beads of light, then she spread out her right hand in front of her. In a glow of red light, a pinkish-red book appeared before her.

Lilith murmured something under her breath, then light once again lit up the area. The red book now split into two bright red balls of light which each came to rest at the base of Lilith's middle fingers.

When the glow died, Lilith's fingers now bore two rings similar to the one from Arata's memory. On her left hand was the exact same ring Arata received from Hijiri, but with a ruby instead of clear crystal. On her right was a large round ring with a hand shape like the one on her belt buckle.

Lilith placed her right hand over her belt buckle, which responded with a red magic circle appearing over it.

**=DRIVER ON, PLEASE=**

The belt transformed into a silver one with a chunkier belt buckle. The hand shape was now set on a silver disc. The circle tapered to the belt in either side and each side also bore a squarish section, with the one on the right on top and the one on the left at the bottom.

Lilith now gripped the two sections and pushed them, switching their up and down positions. The hand shape was also shifted and now became the shape of a left hand pointing down and to the right.

The middle of the hand, where the base of the middle finger was, started pulsing with multi-colored light.

**=SHABADOOBIE TOUCH HENSHIN, SHABADOOBIE TOUCH HENSHIN=**

The belt suddenly chanted melodically, confusing Arata.

As the belt continued repeating its chant, Lilith flipped the visor on her left ring, which had been raised, down.

"Henshin!" she called and placed her left hand over her belt.

**=FLAME, PLEASE~=**

**=HI, HI, HI, HI, HI~=** (**A/N: "Hi" (pronounced 'hee') here means flame in Japanese, more specifically the kanji '****火****'. I just used the original 'coz repeating 'Fire' sounded goofy…goofier, whatever.**)

As the belt sang a new chant, Lilith stretched out her left hand to her side. A red magic circle wreathed in flames appeared where her hand was and slid to her right. As the magic circle passed over her body, flames formed new battle suit over her.

The new suit had a black bodysuit, with a black leather longcoat over the suit. The shoulders and collar of the longcoat were stiff and metallic, with round silver pads with carvings of a dragon in fetal position on each on the shoulder pads. The torso featured a red chestplate under the longcoat and the chest area of the longcoat had three huge rubies on each side, cut in quadrilaterals. Ruby red bands bound Lilith's wrists and ankles. Lilith's head was now encased in a black and silver helmet, with a mask that was a replica of her ring, down to the faceting on the red mask. On her left hip, a chain bearing several rings like the one on her right hand, but with orange gemstones, hung in a loop.

When the transformation ended, Lilith swung her hand down and the bottom of the longcoat fluttered up, revealing the red inside of the coat.

The Minotaurus reeled at the sight. "Y-You…You weren't just a mage? You're a Wizard, too?"

"That is right," Lilith replied. She removed the Driver On Ring from her right hand and plucked a new ring off the chain on her left hip. The ring featured a picture of a dragon emerging from a portal-like ring in silver, set on an orange gem. Lilith put the ring on and shifted the lever to switch the hand again.

**=LUPACHI MAGIC, TOUCH GO. LUPACHI MAGIC, TOUCH GO.=**

The buckle pulsed with light again, with the belt singing a new chant. Lilith scanned the new ring on her belt.

**=CONNECT, PLEASE=**

Lilith raised her hand to the side, where a magic circle appeared. She stuck her hand into it, disappearing into nothingness. Then, she pulled out a huge silver gun.

The gun's grip was nearly as long as the barrel, which was rather flat-looking. The top of the barrel had a folded section of what resembled a blade, curving in a convex manner. From the left of the gun, a large black left hand shape was set on the back of the barrel, where it connected to the grip. The left hand had its four fingers folded down, making the shape of a closed hand.

The Minotaurus, sensing danger, lowered his stance and charged at Lilith, who switched her ring again. This time, it featured a dragon holding an orange shield in front of it. Lilith shifted the lever back and forth once and activated the belt again. She swiped her hand over the buckle again.

**=DEFEND, PLEASE=**

Lilith held her right hand in front of her and a round disk of flames appeared, causing the monster to crash into it and be set on fire. The sheer heat of the shield melted the horns of the Minotaurus right off, leaving stumps growing from his head.

"Grr…" he grunted.

Lilith then replaced her ring yet again. This time, the ring featured the silver profile of a dragon's head, with three copies in cut into the gem itself. She activated and swiped her hand over the buckle for the sixth time.

**=COPY, PLEASE=**

A magic circle formed to Lilith's right, which quickly conjured a perfect copy of her in her battle suit. The copy and Lilith activated and scanned the rings again, creating a total of four Liliths. The four scanned again and formed a total of seven perfect copies of Lilith, with the real one among them.

The Liliths raised their guns and began firing at the bull humanoid, who tried to duck, but couldn't avoid the rain of bullets showering down on him.

Finally, Lilith stopped the shooting and her copies vanished, leaving only Lilith facing the monster. She now reached over to her gun and pulled the thumb of the left hand sideways, away from the palm. The fingers flipped open and the middle of the hand started glowing.

**=COME ON A SHOOTING, SHAKE HANDS!=**

The gun chanted in the same voice as the belt. Lilith placed her left hand over the one on the gun, looking like she really was shaking hands with it.

**=FLAME, SHOOTING STRIKE: HI-HI-HI, HI-HI-HI=**

As the gun chanted, a small magic circle expanded in front of the barrel. Lilith pointed the gun at the monster and fired rapidly. The gun blasted large fireballs at the bull, burning him up. When the firing stopped, the Phantom screamed and was burned to nothingness, leaving only a small flame on the ground.

Blowing out a sigh, Lilith transformed back, her battle suit disappearing into cascading gems of light.

"I'd better send a report to the Academy…" she muttered, bringing out yet another ring. This one was mainly silver, with the profile of a Garuda in ruby.

**=GARUDA, PLEASE=**

A rectangular model kit frame appeared in mid-air. The pieces immediately started detaching and assembling themselves, forming a small red model Garuda with silver detailing and a silver torso.

Lilith removed the Garuda Ring and attached it to a slot in Garuda's chest. The little familiar instantly sprang to life, flying circles around its mistress.

"I shall leave it to you, Garuda. Report back to the Headmaster," she instructed. The little PlaMonster let out an affirmative chirp and flew off into the distance.

"Now then…" she turned back to Arata and the grimoire.

Arata gaped at her.

"What the heck was that?" he shouted.

"Please refrain from yelling. That was a Phantom, a demon produced from humans affected by a Sabbat. And what I used was Wizard, a high-grade magic only top mages can use," Lilith explained calmly.

"Now that explanations are done," A cocking sound was heard and Lilith once again had her rifle in her hands, which she pointed between Arata's eyes.

"Choose, Kasuga Arata: One, have that grimoire dispel this fabricated world right now, and I can promise you'll live your days in peace. However, we will have to destroy that grimoire, and erase all your memories of Kasuga Hijiri and everything about this town."

"And the other option:" Lilith shifted her gun's aim. "I execute you right here as the individual responsible for the creation of this world."

Arata stared at the rifle in shock, then began laughing lowly.

"So if I want to live, I have to forget everything? Even Hijiri…"

_Wait… _A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Wait, what happened to Hijiri? Is she still alive?" he asked the grimoire.

"She should be. This form of mine is but a shadow copy of her. It won't work if she was dead. She could be floating in a rift in time-space, lost somewhere in this world, or even in some other one, but she is undoubtedly alive," she replied.

"I see…" Arata muttered. "She's alive…"

He collapsed to his knees, but had only one thought running through his head.

_She's alive…Hijiri's alive…I can find her…_

After a few minutes, he spoke up again.

"I've decided. I'm not handing the grimoire over," Arata announced.

"Wha-?" Lilith gasped.

"But I have no intentions of being executed, either, though dying by the gun of a big-boobed beauty is tempting," he smirked at Lilith.

"I hate multiple-choice with only two options, so I'm making a third. One where I keep the grimoire, and stay alive, he cheekily stuck his tongue out.

"Selfish one, aren't you?" the grimoire casually commented.

"What are you on about?" Lilith demanded, her finger tightening over her trigger.

Arata looked up at the eerie black sun and reached out his hand, clenching it tightly as if trying to hold the sun.

"I'm gonna take option number three: I'll become a mage."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's a wrap! Read and review by clicking that cute review button if you want, but really, thanks for even finding this thing and reading it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, already on the second chapter. I'm good. Just kidding.**

**Anyway, just wanna put it out there, I'm mainly following the anime adaptation of events up till wherever they stopped, then switch to the manga events. If even that's exhausted, then this story will either go on hiatus or diverge into an original storyline. If there are any preferences, tell me in a review.**

**Secondly, thanks to the two people who reviewed the first chapter. I'm saying it again, I honestly didn't expect anyone to read this thing. And thanks to all six of my followers for wanting to read more of this story!**

**Okay, ramble over. Enjoy.**

**Edit (01/02/2014): Error in the attack name in Arin's battle scene. It's SLASH STRIKE instead of SHOOTING STRIKE. Thanks to New Universe Returns for pointing it out!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Demon Lord and the Trinity Seven<p>

* * *

><p>"B-Become a mage? Are you serious?" Lilith spluttered.<p>

"Of course," Arata replied. "Mages are allowed to hold grimoires, right? In that case," He displayed his grimoire. "I'm definitely qualified."

"I've never heard of such an instance!" Lilith retorted.

"…Although, you did create an entire world by yourself…" she added later.

"Then I'll become one. No matter how slim the possibility is," Arata declared.

"So step 1," Arata looked over his shoulder at 'Hijiri'. "Dispel this world right now."

"You sure?" the grimoire confirmed. "After this world is gone, you're going off into the deep end. It's sink-or-swim with no go-backs."

"Fine by me," Arata replied immediately.

"Very well," the grimoire sighed. She raised her hand above her head, and then snapped her fingers. Arata blinked and suddenly, he was standing in the middle of the ruined city.

"Ouch…I knew it looked bad, but looking at this again…" Arata grimaced.

Lilith stood staring at Arata for a minute.

"…You are sure you want to go through with this?" she confirmed.

"For the last time, I'm sure," Arata sighed.

Lilith nodded. "Alright. I will make the necessary arrangements."

"You can do that?"

"Well, I am a teacher after all. Anyway, take this," Lilith casually said as she scanned another ring, this time a blank one with roughly polished gem and three claws gripping the gem on the edges, on her belt. A piece of paper materialized into existence in front of her.

"This magic circle will transport you to the front of the Academy tomorrow at 8am according to this time zone. I'll transport you to temporary accommodations for the night." And with that, Lilith snapped her fingers and Arata was suddenly transported into a room.

The room was furnished with simple wooden furniture, but was quite large and clean.

Arata's head was buzzing slightly from all the things happening, and he felt it spinning a bit as well.

Lying down on the single bed next to him, he took a deep breath and began organizing the events so far.

_So my town was destroyed by-What did they call it?-a Sabbat. Mages exist and one of them just transformed into a masked fighter in front of me to fight a monster. Now I'm gonna be a mage and find Hijiri…man…_

"Well, no sense worrying about it. 8am tomorrow, huh…" he stared at the piece of paper in his hand, which had a magic circle drawn on it in red ink.

He stuffed the paper in his uniform pocket and quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>The next day, Arata found himself standing outside what could only be described as a palace. The facade was white, with deep blue roofs and a set of green doors towered over him.<p>

_How do people even open these things?_ He thought idly.

Just then, the doors creaked open. Standing behind them was Lilith, now dressed in a dark brown blazer over a white blouse with a red tie and a red plaid skirt. She did, however, keep her thigh-high socks and beret. On the chest pocket of the blazer was an Eye of Horus, embroidered in gold thread.

"This magic school is sure in the middle of nowhere," Arata commented as a greeting.

* * *

><p>"I still cannot believe that your application really got approved. It is unheard of," Lilith grumbled as she led Arata down the corridor.<p>

"It's fine, isn't it? Anyway, once again, good to know you, Asami Lilith," Arata casually said with a grin.

Lilith sighed loudly as she stopped in front of a door. "This will be your dormitory room for your time here. Your necessities and uniform have all been prepared. Get changed quickly," she instructed.

"Roger," Arata gave a small salute before disappearing behind the door.

A few minutes later, he was once again walking down the corridor with Lilith, having changed into the male uniform with a white shirt instead of a blouse, a black tie, and a pair of cream-colored long pants.

"Anyway…I'm surprised. You're actually a teacher here. How old are you again?" Arata tried to strike conversation to break the uncomfortable silence.

"It is rude to ask a lady for her age, you know," Lilith replied. "…I'm the same age as you."

"And another thing," Lilith reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of silver-framed spectacles, which she put on. "Call me by my name. Referring to a teacher as 'you' all the time is rude."

"Now that I think about it, you're right. Sorry about that," Arata scratched his head.

Lilith stopped in front of a door made of frosted glass, with a wooden frame. "This is your classroom. Remember to greet everyone properly."

"R-Right," Arata couldn't help but feel slight butterflies at the thought of self-introduction.

Lilith opened the door and casually strolled in, Arata close behind. Spotting their teacher, the students quickly scrambled back to their seats.

Lilith wrote Arata's name on the blackboard. "So, this is the new transfer student I am sure you have heard about, Kasuga Arata."

"My name is Kasuga Arata. Nice to meet you," Arata said and bowed.

"Over here~! A few questions, please!" A hand popped up.

"Go ahead, Selina-san," Lilith replied.

A blond girl in twin ponytails sitting in the second row stood up. Instead of a tie like Lilith, she wore a red ribbon, as did the other girls. She adjusted the large red-framed glasses sitting on her head with her pen.

"My name's Selina Sherlock, head journalist for the school paper. What type of girls do you like?" the blonde immediately asked.

"Big-boobed girls," Arata quickly replied.

"Wow, that's straightforward," Selina muttered as she scribbled on her notebook.

"Though, I suppose I could love a girl without boobs," he added confidently.

"And he tried to subtly smooth it over!" Selina exclaimed.

"Oh, and she's gotta be cute, too," Arata finished.

"Basically, you're an enemy to all girls, right? Got it," Selina noted it down with a serious expression. At her words, Arata only puffed out his chest and tilted his nose up in pride, making Lilith sigh again.

"Feeling better? Then…" Lilith tried to shoo Arata to his seat, but Selina wasn't finished.

"Next question: Is it true that you created a world, which can only be accomplished by a demon lord class mage?" Selina continued.

"Selina-san! That's-" Lilith started to stop the interview, but Arata spoke up before she could finish.

"Huh? Couldn't anyone do that?"

"Hey, Arata…"

Upon hearing his words, the class erupted into raucous cheers.

"He's the real deal!"

"He's really a demon lord candidate!"

While Arata was simply confused by the commotion, Lilith sighed for the third time, her shoulders sagging visibly this time.

* * *

><p>"Extra! Extra!" Selina excitedly dashed down the hallway, flinging newsletters all around.<p>

"The new transfer student has demon lord level power! He apparently created a world by himself! We have a demon lord candidate right here in the Royal Biblia Academy, people!" she shouted.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, a copy of the newsletter rested in the hands of a young man who appeared to be in his late twenties. His long silver hair was slicked back into a ponytail and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses sat on his nose. Reading the headline that declared 'Demon Lord Kasuga Arata! A new era in Royal Biblia?', he laughed loudly.<p>

"Getting called a demon lord on your first day here? That's a first," he addressed Arata, who stood before his desk.

"It is not funny at all, Headmaster!" Lilith protested. "The class could not even go on because of the commotion!"

"Well, it sounds cool, so who cares?" Arata replied, reveling in the attention.

"You be quiet."

"No, no. This is really interesting," the Headmaster got up from his chair. "I welcome you officially on behalf of the Royal Biblia Academy, Kasuga Arata-kun."

"Just for your information, the Royal Biblia Academy-" the Headmaster began.

"-started as an underground organization in the 18th century, and became prominent in the 20th with the increase in Sabbat frequency. You're now funded by various governments worldwide in secret, along with several other magic schools. I got all that right?" Arata interrupted.

The Headmaster looked stunned for a second, and then clapped slowly as he sat back down. "I'm surprised. You know a lot about us."

"Well, I just slipped off to the library during the mess in the classroom. Simple when everyone just goes nuts and lesson goes interrupted for several hours," Arata shrugged. "If I'm gonna be part of this world and school, I need to know the basics, at least."

The Headmaster laughed again. "Oh boy, you really are an interesting lad. Good job finding him, Lilith-chan."

"And on top of all that history, we mages are now in charge of investigating and managing unsolved, potentially magic-related cases worldwide. We also have another name: Magus," the Headmaster continued.

"Hold on, what about the thing Lilith transformed to? Wizard, if I remember correctly," Arata tilted his head to the side.

"Ah, so you did see Lilith's Wizard form. Wizard is a system developed from years of magic research to make a combat system for Phantoms. We call the form the Wizard Mode."

"Phantoms… those monsters from the Sabbat…right?"

"Exactly. Manifestations of magic caused by an influx of magic power into people during a Sabbat. The mechanisms behind the transformations and their purpose are still fuzzy, but we do know that the inherent magic potential of a person plays a role in deciding the power of the transformation," Lilith explained.

"Only mages of the highest caliber can use the Wizard Mode without losing control of the magic power," the Headmaster added.

"So if I become a mage, and acquire the Wizard Mode, then I can get back Hijiri?" Arata asked.

"Who knows? Magic allows for all possibilities," the Headmaster replied.

"Is there a shortcut?"

"Of course not!" Lilith replied. "The mastery of magic requires years of diligent and rigorous training. In any case, it's not possible for a newbie like you to acquire Wizard Mode in a short time, either!"

"But the Headmaster over there just said that magic allows for _all_ possibilities. Won't that mean a shortcut to becoming a mage _and_ acquiring Wizard Mode are both possible outcomes?" Arata retorted.

"Oh boy, he got you good there, Lilith-chan! Yes, I did say that, and there's definitely a way," the Headmaster said.

"Headmaster!" Lilith protested.

"What's the problem with telling him? I have a good feeling about this kid," the Headmaster waved his hands around.

"Listen well, Arata-kun. In this Academy, there are seven mages who are like boss characters in a game," the Headmaster's expression darkened.

"The Trinity Seven."

"Trinity…Seven?" Arata repeated.

"That's their collective name. They're seven female mages who each stand at the top of their specialty, and the only seven in this school who have access to the Wizard Mode, each having mastered a different element. Of course, Lilith-chan is included, controlling the fire element," the Headmaster explained.

"Is she now? Well, she does have a nice figure," Arata commented.

Lilith gasped and tried to cover her body with her arms. "M-My figure has nothing to do with this!"

"Anyway, what I'm saying is that if you meet the Trinity Seven and make them your allies, you could go up the ranks pretty quickly. Making them your pawns is fine."

"I see…so I'll have to make them my harem, huh…" Arata replied thoughtfully.

"H-Harem?!" Lilith flushed bright red.

"That's right~"

"Don't agree with him, Headmaster!"

* * *

><p>"Seriously…" Lilith sighed as she shut the door behind her. "Please do not take everything the Headmaster says seriously, alright? He is a brilliant mage, but normally…"<p>

"Is that so?" Arata replied, only half-listening.

_The Trinity Seven…there are six more with that kind of overwhelming power?_ Arata thought, remembering Lilith's fight against the Minotaurus.

Just then, he felt a slight dissonance. "Huh?" He looked up at the ceiling, which seemed normal, but he noticed a square section which was slightly different, like someone pasted a sheet of paper of exactly the same pattern over the ceiling.

As he watched, the paper peeled off and someone poked their head out from underneath. It was a teenage girl with a fluffy brown ponytail and long bangs covering one eye. A pink scarf was wrapped around her neck.

"Oh, so you noticed my presence," the girl stated.

She quickly peeled off the concealing sheet and leapt off the ceiling, landing on one knee in front of Arata and Lilith. She was dressed in the Biblia uniform, but with a green tie in place of the ribbon and a sleeveless vest instead of a blazer. A band holding thin silver needles was wrapped around her right thigh and three kunai hung from her belt. She also wore mismatched socks, with the right reaching to the middle of her calf and the left up to her thigh, and slightly baggy.

"Awesome. You're a ninja!" Arata exclaimed.

"Cool, huh?" the girl grinned at Arata.

"Nice to meet you, Kasuga Arata-san. The name's Kazama Levi, an honest-to-goodness ninja," the girl introduced herself.

"Wait, you're not a mage?" Arata asked.

"Ninja arts, astrology, even bedroom techniques… they all fall under the category of magic. Isn't that right, Lilith-sensei?" Levi explained.

Lilith paused for a second, then her face glowed red after processing Levi's words.

"Wait, bedroom techniques?" Arata was confused.

"Th-That's none of your concern!" Lilith stuttered.

"Pure as usual, Lilith-sensei. By the way, the third one was a joke," Levi clarified.

"A-Anyway," Lilith cleared her throat softly. "Levi-san here is one of the Trinity Seven."

"Really? Then you must be pretty amazing, huh?" Arata said. He then noticed the hand-shaped buckle in Levi's belt.

"Yeah, well, I _am_ really amazing. I'm a ninja, after all," Levi puffed out her chest. She leaned in towards Arata. "I know e~verything from assassination to the really erotic ninja techniques. Want me to teach you?"

Before Arata could respond, Lilith cut in between them, flailing her arms about. "H-Hey, hey, hey!" she shouted, her face redder than ever.

"Well, I'm just kidding," Levi said as she took a few light steps back. "You seem like a pretty straightforward guy. I find that fun."

"Yeah, well, as far as I can tell, I'm just acting normal," Arata replied, a bit embarrassed.

"No, you are definitely a weird person, Arata," Lilith pointed out.

"By the way, what are the rest of the Trinity Seven like?"

"Ah, it just so happens two of them are there," Levi replied, pointing out the window. Following the direction of her finger, Arata saw two girls walking down the path from the school. The shorter of the two had blond hair, cut short except for a bit at the back, which hung like a ponytail. Her uniform had a purple tie in place of the ribbon matching her sharp purple eyes. The taller girl had long black hair reaching down well past her back, with a neat fringe. She only wore a white shirt left open at the bottom to reveal her belly button, and a long skirt with a slit along the side. A yellow armband was wrapped around her arm, with runes carved into it. Both of them had the same hand-shaped buckle on their belts.

"Hmm, I'd say the blond one is a first-year, and the big one a third-year…by bust size, blonde gets 75 out of 100, and the other one an 85…" Arata mumbled.

"Wow, assessing women based on bust size. An enemy of all girls like the paper said," Levi commented.

"Huh? I said that out loud?"

"Anyway, the blonde is Yamana Mira-san, and the other is Fudou Akio-san. I suppose they're off for an information control mission as usual," Levi continued.

"So they're really powerful, too?"

"But of course. That's a given for the Trinity Seven. In terms of pure ability, Mira-san surpasses even our child prodigy Lilith-sensei here, and Akio-san is unrivaled in terms of attack power," Levi replied.

_What's with those descriptions like they came out of a battle manga…? _Arata thought wryly. Then another question occurred to him.

"Why are the Trinity Seven all girls?" he asked.

"Well, magic is the research of the mind and emotions. So girls are naturally more suited to it," Levi replied.

"So it's better to be emotional? Like being honest with your desires, and things like that?"

"N-Not exactly like that! You have to show restraint with such things…" Lilith trailed off.

"I didn't even specify what kind of desires I'm talking about. What could you possibly be thinking about, Lilith?" Arata teased.

"Th-That…"

"See that? She's blushing. Despite how you act, you're pretty naughty, aren't you, Lilith-sensei?" Levi added.

"N-No! It's just-" Lilith slapped a hand over her mouth to cover the squeak she let out.

"Just what, Lilith?" Arata asked. Both him and Levi closed in on Lilith, teasing grins on their faces.

Lilith turned redder and redder, then pulled out her rifle out of nowhere and pointed it at Arata's face.

"Eh?" Arata said dumbly.

What followed was a gunshot, an explosion, and Arata's pained scream through the corridor.

* * *

><p>"You got off easy," Levi said as she stuck another bandage on Arata's face, making the boy jump in pain. The two were now in Arata's room, where Levi volunteered to patch the boy up from his 'shooting practice'.<p>

"That was easy? If I didn't dodge, my head would be all over the walls right now! Lilith's pretty emotional, that's for sure," Arata griped.

"On the contrary," Levi said. "I've never seen Lilith-sensei having so much fun."

"Fun?" Arata asked sarcastically. _If that's having fun, the magic world's more screwed up than I thought._

"She's usually a total ice princess. She was distant from everyone until a couple of weeks ago," Levi stared at Arata thoughtfully. "If she acts differently around you, you might just be special…"

"Huh?"

"It's nothing. Don't mind me."

"…"

"Well, that's that. I'll see you around," Levi gave a little wave and leapt onto Arata's windowsill.

As she was about to jump out, both of them felt a chill. Levi quickly drew a kunai from her belt while Arata leapt off the bed.

"Show yourself!" Levi shouted.

"Oh boy, caught already?" A voice echoed through the room. The voice cackled as the room darkened slightly. A patch of darkness appeared on the floor and from the shadow, a monster emerged.

The monster's head had a mane shaped like raging flames, with a bright blue rhombus gem set in its forehead. Its face was a blank black space, framed by what looked like a large mouth with sharp teeth. Its body was black, with silver armor on its upper body and tongues of flame lining its arms, legs and two tongues running from the front of the shoulders to his back, looping over his shoulder.

"A Phantom! How did you sneak into the school?" Levi pointed her kunai at the monster.

"Heh, that barrier is nothing to the great Hellhound-sama! I can just sneak in through the shadows," the Hellhound Phantom bragged.

"You know, now we know to take measures against that," Arata pointed out.

"Whatever! I just need to kill you, boy!" Hellhound spat. He tilted his head back and a ball of fire gathered in front of his face where his mouth would be. The fireball was sent flying straight at Arata.

"Whoa!" Levi quickly parried the ball of flame out of the window, where it exploded.

"Tch… A Wizard…" Hellhound growled, noticing Levi's belt.

"Glad you get it. Now…" Levi pulled out a scroll from under her scarf, placing it between her teeth.

"Connect to the Invidia Archive…" Levi chanted. A green glow bathed the room. "Execute Theme…" She formed a seal with her hands. "Overwriting with Hurricane!" She thrust her palms out in front of her and the scroll in her mouth glowed green, turning into two balls of light that landed on each of her middle fingers. Levi displayed the rings on her hands. On her right hand was the Driver On Ring, and in her left was a similar ring to Lilith's, but with an emerald cut into a downward-pointing triangle.

Levi grinned as she scanned her Driver On Ring.

**=DRIVER ON, PLEASE=**

She shifted the lever and flipped the visor over the gem on the ring.

**=SHABADOOBIE TOUCH HENSHIN, SHABADOOBIE TOUCH HENSHIN=**

"Henshin!" Levi called and scanned her ring.

**=HURRICANE, PLEASE~=**

**=FU, FU, FU-FU, FU-FU!= **

As her belt sang the chant, Levi raised her left hand above her head, forming a green magic circle with wind blowing from it. She leapt through the circle and then landed lightly.

Levi was now clad in a similar battle suit to the one Lilith had on just yesterday, but with triangular emeralds on the chest area of the longcoat, an emerald green chestplate, and similarly-colored cuffs and a brilliant green on the inside of her longcoat. Her helmet had the same design as her ring, with an emerald mask instead of a ruby like Lilith's.

Levi swapped her Driver On Ring, scanning the new ring on her Driver.

**=CONNECT, PLEASE=**

Levi reached into the green magic circle and pulled out a sword. The sword looked similar to the gun Lilith wielded, with a similar hand-shaped scanner at the hilt.

Flipping the sword to hold it in a backhand, Levi charged at the Hellhound, who ducked Levi's first swing, but got kicked squarely in the stomach in exchange.

"Not the best place to fight," Hellhound growled. "Let's take this outside!"

With that, Hellhound grabbed Arata by the neck and dragged him out of the window. Levi quickly followed after them, sending a blade of wind towards the Hellhound. The blade grazed Hellhound's shoulder, but was sufficient to make him release his grip around Arata's neck.

The Phantom and Arata both landed on the grass with a thud, while Levi propelled herself towards the Hellhound with a miniature tornado. She slashed the monster across the chest as she passed, then redirected the wind to rush past him again, slashing as she did so. As she repeated the attack over and over, the Hellhound slowly got lifted into the air by the wind generated around him.

Levi finally stopped her barrage and the monster began falling to the ground.

"How do you like that?" Levi taunted.

The Hellhound, who seemed to be unconscious, suddenly let out a snort of laughter and shifted himself to fall headfirst. As he touched the ground, he sank into the dark shadows.

"What?" Levi and Arata shouted at the same time.

"You forgot already? I can travel through shadows. Anyway, the wind element has next to no effect on me. Thanks for the breeze, though," the Hellhound cackled, his voice seemingly echoing through the field.

Levi landed and looked around, trying to find the Phantom.

As Levi was looking around, Arata noticed the Hellhound's mane poking out of the shadows behind the Wizard.

"Levi!" he shouted as a warning, but it was too late. The Hellhound's upper body emerged from the shadows and drew a metal long sword with a V-shaped hilt. He delivered a slash to Levi's back, making the Wizard double over.

The Hellhound ducked back into the shadows, then appeared in another spot, kicking Levi in the face before diving back again. Arata could only watch as Levi got beaten up.

_Grr…where's that grimoire when you need it?_ Arata thought.

"You called?" the grimoire's voice sounded in Arata's head as it materialized, hanging around Arata's neck like a necklace.

"Hey, I can use magic with you, right? Hurry up and let me fight!" Arata urged.

"…Nope, no can do. No Theme, no connection to the Archives, no magic," the grimoire said with finality.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"In short, you can't do magic."

"Man, you're useless," Arata groaned.

"How rude! It's not my fault you're incompetent," the grimoire retorted.

"But we have to help Levi somehow…"

Levi finally collapsed on the ground, motionless. The Hellhound finally emerged and stepped out of the shadows. He snorted at the downed Wizard and began walking over to Arata.

"Arata…san…" Levi grunted. She tried to move her body, but her weakened state rendered her immobile.

"This ends it," he announced as he raised his sword above his head.

Just before the blade hit Arata, the sound of metal clashing resounded. Opening his closed eyes, Arata saw a blue magic circle in front of him, with a blade extending out of the circle and blocking the Phantom's sword. The blade parried Hellhound's blade and vanished into the circle.

"What?" The Phantom growled.

"Sorry, but I can't allow you to kill him," a quiet female voice spoke. Despite the soft tone, the voice seemed to freeze the very atmosphere.

"Who-?" The Hellhound looked up to the rooftop and gasped. Following his gaze, Arata saw a small female figure standing on the roof, holding a bladed staff almost as tall as her.

The girl jumped off the roof and landed between the Hellhound and Arata, striking the Phantom in the stomach for good measure.

Arata looked at the girl, who stood facing the Hellhound, and nearly let out a gasp.

_H-Hijiri?!_

The girl before him was short, and had the same short light blue hair as Arata's missing cousin, and dressed in the Royal Biblia uniform. However, Arata noticed that the girl before him had hair in a shade of ice-blue, much lighter than Hijiri's.

The girl wordlessly stabbed her staff, on closer inspection a glaive similar in design to Levi's sword, with the blade below a gun barrel, into the ground and placed her right hand over the front of her waist.

**=DRIVER ON, PLEASE=**

"Another Wizard?!" the Hellhound shouted.

_Another member of the Trinity Seven…_ Arata thought.

The girl lifted her left hand. In the faint light from the windows of the dorms, Arata spotted a blue sapphire in a marquis cut.

"Don't fuck with me!" the Hellhound shouted as he blasted a stream of flames at the girl.

"Henshin," the girl said in an almost-whisper.

**=WATER, PLEASE=**

**=SUI~, SUI~, SUI~, SUI~=**

The girl raised her palm towards the incoming fire blast. A magic circle of water emerged and drowned out the flames, then passed over the girl's body to form a battle suit like Lilith and Levi's, but with blue coloring, diamond-shaped sapphires on her longcoat and a sapphire mask.

The girl pulled her glaive off the ground and quickly closed the distance between her and the Phantom, stabbing him directly in the middle of his chest. A huge gash appeared in the Hellhound's armor, which broke and fell to the ground with a clatter.

The girl continued to slash at the monster, pushing the Hellhound further and further back.

"Don't look down on me!" the Hellhound blocked the next blow and blew fire at the girl.

The blue Wizard was buffeted by the fire, allowing the Phantom to pull away from her. However, the flames quickly died and the girl looked no worse for wear.

"What?" the Hellhound looked positively frightened by now.

"Sorry, fire has no effect against my water element," she replied. Then, she opened the scanner on her glaive.

**=COME ON A SLASH, SHAKE HANDS!=**

She scanned her ring and began spinning the staff.

**=WATER, SLASH STRIKE: SUI-SUI-SUI, SUI-SUI-SUI=**

She swung horizontally at the Phantom, producing a blade of water that sliced through the Hellhound's body like butter.

"No…This is…" the Hellhound could only groan as water bubbled from his wound and he vanished in a huge explosion of water, showering the three in the field.

"Ah, sorry you had to step in," Levi apologized as she finally regained enough strength to get up. She disengaged her Wizard Mode in a shower of green gems.

"…It's fine," the girl replied as she disengaged her own Wizard Mode. She turned to look at Arata, who felt himself stiffen. The girl had tired-looking eyes, colored a brilliant gold, and a sprig of hair stood up from her head like an antenna. Her tie was a sapphire blue, like her Wizard Mode

The girl wordlessly stared at him for a few minutes, then started walking back into the dormitories.

"Wait! Who are you?" Arata called after her.

The girl stopped, and seemed to hesitate before responding.

"…The bride of the demon lord. Or so I've been told."

With that, the girl left.

"Ah, Arin-san's emotionless as usual," Levi commented.

"So her name's Arin, huh," Arata's words came out as a statement rather than a question.

"Yup. Kannazuki Arin. She's a ball of mystery, that one," Levi slowly got up.

"Whoa, you sure you're alright like that?" Arata asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'm a ninja, after all. A few herb treatments and a good night's sleep will fix it. And on that note, I'll take my leave, Arata-san," Levi bowed, then disappeared through the dormitory doors.

"Hey, grimoire," Arata called.

"Yeah?"

"Is Kannazuki Arin…?"

"Nope," the grimoire answered his unfinished question instantly. "She looks like Hijiri, but she's completely different on the inside, at least from what I can tell."

"But she's definitely connected to Hijiri somehow. I can feel it," Arata insisted.

He heaved a huge sigh.

_And on top of that, the Trinity Seven. I get the feeling they're going to be important to me too. They have the means to help me find Hijiri, I just know it. _

Arata raised his hand in front of the moon and clenched his fist, just like he did with the black sun.

_I'll get stronger, and I'll find you, Hijiri. I promise!_

* * *

><p>As Arata made his declaration under the moonlit sky, a battle was occurring someplace else.<p>

A Phantom scurried behind a pile of rubble to catch his breath. The Phantom had light grey skin with black patches on his lower arms, shins and chest. Orange-yellow spikes protruded out of his shoulders and the sides of his thighs. On his chest, eight orange petal-shaped growths glowed brightly, which didn't help in making him less visible in the darkness. His head was like a feline's with pointed ears and a bushy mustache.

"Man, what a pain. I didn't sign up for no manhunts!" he complained in English with a thick Southern accent. (**A/N: This goes out to those who may complain about such things. Yes, I'm writing in English, I know. But all characters are speaking Japanese by default because, you know, they're in an anime setting.**)

A rumble was heard, then the pile of rubble behind the Caitsith Phantom was reduced to dust.

"Don't bother running further. You will be picking bits of yourself off the ground if you do," a female voice called in English, with only a hint of a Japanese accent.

"Crap!" the Phantom cursed. He stared at the glowing ball of electricity floating in front of him. A bright flash and buzzing followed, then the Phantom was no more.

Another two flashes of bright light, one purple and one yellow, lit up the ruins. From the shadows, two girls stepped out into the moonlight.

"Whew, that dragged on late," the taller girl commented, dusting sand out of her silky black hair.

"That Phantom was indeed persistent in escaping," the other girl, a blonde, agreed.

"So, shall we get going, boss?" Fudou Akio grinned at her underclassman.

"We will find a place to stay for the night and return to the academy first thing tomorrow," Yamana Mira agreed.

"I heard that we have a demon lord candidate in the Academy. That impurity must be dealt with swiftly."


	3. Chapter 3

Arata was aware his mouth was hanging open stupidly, but he made no effort to close it. The situation was too confusing.

A short girl with ice-blue hair and tired-looking, golden eyes sat at the seat beside him as if it was the most natural thing in the world. However, Arata was sure that the seat was empty before today. _Unless there's memory-modifying magic at work. Nothing surprises me at this point. _

"…Good morning, my dear," the girl noticed him and greeted, though Arata seemed to hear her refer to him by a weird greeting.

"G-Good morning, Arin…-san?" Arata greeted back awkwardly.

"…Just Arin is fine. You would say darling or honey too if you want," Kannazuki Arin replied.

_Ok, the whispering is getting really annoying,_ Arata thought as the entire class lost all pretense of ignorance.

"…You seem tired. Maybe you need something to perk you up?" Arin asked. As she said that, her hands reached up to undo her tie and unbutton her blazer and blouse. The class gasped collectively at the sight.

While Arata always fantasized such a situation, Arin's direct approach made him blush and avert his eyes. "Wh-What are you doing?!"

Arin tilted her head. "…You like breasts, right? So I figured you would perk up after seeing mine."

"No, no. Thank you very much, but there's a time and place for this sort of thing and it's not here!" Arata shouted, his voice an octave higher than usual.

"…This is pretty difficult," Arin complained as she readjusted her uniform with a disappointed look.

Arata sighed. _I have a feeling this is gonna be a long day…_

* * *

><p>"The one credited with the idea of viewing the concept that all matter is made up of atoms from a cosmological perspective was a man known as the father of alchemy, Paracelsus, or Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim…"<p>

Arata scribbled furiously as Lilith continued talking, barely able to comprehend the lesson.

_Who knew magic required physics and history? _Arata sighed. _And this situation doesn't make it any better…_

"Stare…"

Arin was staring intently at Arata, her chin on her palms and completely ignoring Lilith's lesson. This naturally attracted the attention from the rest of the class, half of whom were only half-listening to the lecture.

"Hey, Lilith…" Arata spoke up. "What's all this about? This is kinda disrupting the lesson, if you haven't noticed."

"It's not that I didn't notice…" Lilith turned away from the blackboard. "But it's complicated…"

_As with everything else around here. _Arata thought wryly.

"Stare…"

* * *

><p>Throughout the day, Arata had to deal with Arin following him around, muttering "Stare…" all the way.<p>

_Well, not that I don't appreciate the attention from a cute girl,_ Arata shrugged mentally as he dug into his ramen. Sitting opposite him was Arin, still staring at him.

This continued for the afternoon lessons as well, but finally there came a point where Arata had to put his foot down.

"No, no, no. Wait a minute! You can't come in here!" he nearly shouted at Arin. Behind Arata was the entrance to the male toilet.

"…I don't mind," Arin replied.

"I do!"

"…This is pretty difficult," Arin mused again.

_How little common sense does this girl have?_ Arata pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the oncoming headache.

"Anyway, why are you even following me around?" Arata asked while pulling Arin aside.

"…Hm?" Arin tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, you've been staring at me all day," Arata explained.

"…You're just self-conscious?"

Arata literally tripped over at her excuse.

"Anyone with eyes could see you were doing it!" he retorted.

"…"

"…" _What's with the sudden silence?_

"…The demon lord candidate," Arin suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"I'm observing you, the demon lord candidate. I'll always be watching you, since I'm supposedly going to be the demon lord's bride."

"Yeah, about that," Arata scratched his head. "What do you mean?"

"…" Arin simply started walking away.

"Hold on!"

"…You'll understand in time. Probably," she replied.

_What the heck? She's seriously a ball of mystery like Levi said._

* * *

><p>"So…" Arata began, his eyebrow twitching.<p>

"What the heck are you guys doing in here?"

He had returned to his dorm room, fully expecting a good rest from Arin's shenanigans, only to find Selina, Levi and Lilith gathered in his room.

"I'm here to interview you!" Selina waved her notepad and pencil in the air.

"And I'm here to watch her interview you," Levi added.

Lilith gave a small cough. "As a teacher, I cannot allow students of opposite genders to be in the same room unattended."

"But you're the same age as me," Arata pointed out.

"Even so, I'm still a teacher!"

Arata sighed. _I'm gonna have to get used to that. _"So what now?"

"Interview time!" Selina's eyes were positively sparkling in anticipation. "The demon lord candidate's the center of the school's attention, after all! You're basically a celebrity!"

"That again…?" Arata complained as he plopped himself down on a chair.

"Well, in that case…" Arata started shuffling through answers based in his memories of celebrity interviews. "My type of girl is big-boobed girls and my favorite food is fried chicken."

"Ignoring that first part, fried chicken, yes? You heard the man, Lilith-sensei!" Selina noted down while speaking cheerily.

"Why are you telling me?" Lilith protested.

"If you like fried chicken, wanna try my special ninja fried chicken?" Levi asked Arata. "There's love potion in it though."

_Why would ninjas make fried chicken with love potions?_ Arata thought off-handedly, but he asked the more important question in his mind.

"What kind of love potion are we talking about?"

"The aphrodisiac kind."

"Then I'd love to," Arata gave a huge grin and a thumbs up.

"Arata!" Lilith chided.

"So you don't mind that there's love potion (aphrodisiacs) in it?" Selina interrupted Lilith.

"Well, it's not the kind of thing you can eat often. Plus, if I lose control after eating it, my movements will be predictable: I'll attack the ones with the largest bust sizes," Arata replied casually.

"I see, I see…" Selina shifted her glasses onto her nose and wrote furiously, a gleam in her eye and glasses.

Lilith, in the other hand, flushed. "A…ra…ta…!"

"Now, now. We're all just kidding around," Arata tried to calm the redhead, which wasn't easy considering a rifle was pointed at his forehead. "Oh yeah, since we're here, mind teaching me a bit more on magic?"

"Huh? I do not mind, but what exactly do you want to know?" Lilith asked.

"Let's start from the basics."

"If that is the case," Lilith sat down on Arata's bed. "What we define as magic is essentially the manipulation of matter and natural phenomena through the use of magic power."

"And my grimoire mentioned something about Themes and Archives during the battle last night. What's that?"

"A Theme is as the name suggests: a research topic a magician delves into. By learning how to use their magic power to manipulate related phenomena, a magician gains greater capabilities and can execute the results of his or her research through spells or macros. Each Theme is derived from one of seven Archives, based after the Seven Deadly Sins."

"I see…So without a Theme from an Archive, a magician's no different from a normal human, huh?"

"That's right."

"As expected, Lilith-sensei's a teacher through and through," Selina whispered to Levi.

"Bring up lessons and make stuff into lesson material, and she can't say no," Levi agreed.

"Too easy to manipulate," the two declared.

"What was that?" Lilith asked.

"Nothing!"

"One last thing…" Arata cut in. He showed his grimoire, now with its chain wound around his wrist.

"What is this thing?"

"How rude!" The grimoire spoke up. "To ask someone's name from another person!"

"Well you're not exactly 'someone'…Anyway, so what _is_ your name?" Arata said.

"It's not like you'll know the name anyway. I'm the Astil Codex," the grimoire replied.

"The Astil Codex?" Selina sounded surprised.

"Are you sure it's the real thing?" Levi asked seriously

"Yes, it is. At least, according to the headmaster. A legendary grimoire said to hold knowledge from other worlds," Lilith confirmed.

"You're that powerful and important?" Arata quietly asked the Astil Codex.

"Well, yeah, I guess I am." Despite the Codex's attempt to sound humble, the arrogance in its voice was evident.

"So do I call you 'Astil' from now on? Or do you prefer 'Codex'?"

"…Let's go with the name that Hijiri gave me when I was with her. Hijiri called me 'Sora'."

"Sora, huh…I don't really understand that, but let's go with it," Arata shrugged.

Then he noticed something strange about what Sora just said. "Hold it, you said that Hijiri had you, at least long enough to name you. What exactly-"

He was cut off by light snoring coming from the Codex.

"What the-? You're asleep?"

"Huh? Oh, I nodded off. We grimoire need our rest, especially when our masters haven't even found research themes to supply magic power. So hurry up with that while I sleep, got it?" And with that, Sora began snoring yet again.

_Talk about stuck-up. Cocky for a book._

Suddenly, a sound filled Arata's ears. The sound was a low drone, like a plane engine's whirring, but made him feel like his brain was shaking. He clapped his hands over his ears and saw Selina do the same, while Levi and Lilith looked around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Arata asked as his surroundings became engulfed in darkness.

"It seems to be a barrier," Lilith assessed.

"Forget that, someone get the lights!" Selina's voice rang out from Arata's left. He felt something soft bump into him and made him lose his balance. The ensuing domino effect ended with him being surrounded by a feeling of softness.

"Wh-Where are you touching?!" Lilith's voice shrieked from somewhere above him.

"This is a pickle…" Levi groaned.

"You guys are heavy! Get off!" Selina complained.

"Gueh? Seriously, let a grimoire sleep, will you? …Why do you get into this kind of things so often, Master?" Sora mumbled.

"Sora, just help us get some light in here," Arata sighed.

"Okey dokey."

The grimoire hanging from Arata's neck began glowing with a gentle pink light, allowing the four to regain some vision. Arata now saw that he was lying face down, with his head in Levi's skirt and his right hand on Lilith's chest, while Selina was pinned under them.

"They really are huge. My hand can't fit it all…" Arata said thoughtfully.

"Arata…!" Lilith had her rifle in her hands again.

"Hey, isn't this lighting kind of…strange?" Selina asked. Arata silently thanked the blonde, for Lilith put down her gun. _However…_

"Oi, Sora," Arata said as he got up.

"Yes, Master?" Sora's sweet voice dripped with false innocence.

"What's with the lighting?"

"I figured you wanted a nice atmosphere, now that you're alone with three girls, so I helped out."

"Quit making my room look like a love hotel!" Arata shouted.

"Tch…Fine," Sora grumbled. The glow of the grimoire changed to a bright blue.

"Now that that's settled," Arata hung the Codex onto a bedpost. "What exactly is going on?"

"As I said earlier, we seem to be in a barrier," Lilith replied.

"Barrier?"

"It would be a smaller equivalent of the world-creation spell you cast two days ago. The barrier creation spell comes in two levels: first where physical entry into a set space is prevented by some form, and second where the space encased in the barrier is isolated."

"So like a sandbox world? Interesting," Arata mused.

"You're sure calm about this," Selina observed as she jiggled the doorknob, but it stuck fast.

"It's not like I really get anything that's going on, so no sense panicking," Arata reasoned.

"Nothing gets to you, huh?" Levi asked with amusement.

"So how do we get out?" Arata asked.

"It appears only this room has been isolated from the rest of the world, but in all my years in this academy, nothing this irrational has occurred. Unfortunately, this also means that I have no means to break the barrier" Lilith sighed.

"Well, I imagine the goal of this game is to think through this barrier and escape," Sora chimed in.

"'Game'? You mean you know how to get out?" Arata questioned.

Sora gave a yawn. "Seeing as you woke me up so many times when I'm napping, I'm not giving hints. Just look around and you'll get it. Good night." With that, the glow of the Codex began to dim.

"Hey, at least leave the lights on," Arata protested.

"Okay~" Sora yawned and the glow returned, shedding enough light to illuminate the whole room.

"Now…" Arata grabbed the chair he was sitting on minutes before. "Let's try this out!" With a shout, he flung it at the door. The chair splintered and a screw narrowly missed Selina's glasses, but the door remained stubbornly closed.

"What was that for?" Selina yelled.

"So the chair broke. Well, not a problem there," Arata mumbled to himself.

"It is a problem! That was school property! What exactly was that for?" Lilith began a reprimanding rant, but stopped before her next sentence.

"Wait, I see…" she mused.

"Exactly," Arata replied. "The basis of magic is not limiting yourself to what you think is rational, hence the emphasis on emotions. I thought that doing something I would usually find irrational in this situation is the key to getting out, but I guess not."

"You really thought this through, huh?" Levi said, impressed.

"But who's doing this? And why?" Selina wondered aloud.

"I'm pretty sure they're after Arata-san," Levi replied.

"I know, right? I have a pretty good idea who's behind this, too," Arata said. He thought back to what Arin told him earlier in the day.

"They're trying to see what I'm made of, or something to that fashion."

"Ooh! That line was cool! Like the hero of some manga!" Selina squealed.

"Problem is, it's hard to prove that I'm completely useless!" Arata declared with his arms crossed.

"Whoa, that was completely lame," Selina deadpanned.

_Alright, I'll play along with your game for now, Kannazuki Arin. I'll dig out your true intentions afterwards._ Arata unfolded his arms.

"First off, let's search the room. See if you can find anything strange," he said.

"…Anything?" Arata asked after about ten minutes of searching.

"Nothing here," Selina called from inside the closet.

"Nothing here either," Levi reported while coming out from under the table.

"Hmm…" Arata bit his lip.

"Well, since we can't find anything, I suggest we take a nap," he decided.

"What? No, we can't just give up! Do you really want to live here forever?" Selina protested.

"I don't see the problem," Arata shrugged.

"I can name at least one big one: this room has no toilet," Selina deadpanned.

"…Don't worry," Arata assured. "I won't look and I won't tell anyone if you have to go here."

"That's not the issue!"

"Fine. Joking aside, Lilith," Arata called over his shoulder.

"…Huh, yes?" Lilith looked a bit distracted and fidgety.

"Anything about barrier spells that may give us a hint?"

"Well…" Lilith shifted uncomfortably in her kneeling position. "Barrier spells…usually have a magic circle…as a form of magic control…to maintain the spell…It is usually located in the direct center of the barrier…"

"Are you alright, Lilith-sensei?" Selina asked.

"No, I am fine-Hyau!" Lilith suddenly clamped her thighs together and placed a hand over her crotch.

"Don't tell me…you have to pee?!" Arata realized.

"N-No! Nothing to worry about…hahaha…" Lilith tried to laugh it off, but she then fell silent, huge beans of sweat streaming down her forehead. The two other girls began panicking.

"Ok, we need to hurry!" Selina exclaimed.

"If she goes here there'll be trouble!" Levi agreed.

_I kinda want to see Lilith struggle with this a bit more though…_ Arata thought, but he held the thought back.

"In that case, we need to find a flat surface that we haven't searched yet. On top of that, we have to consider the fact that it may be concealed by magic…" Arata surmised.

"Don't worry!" Selina said. "My camera can help us detect any magical irregularities!"

"Great. Now that we have that out of the way…"

Arata chewed on his thumbnail. _We don't have time to manually search the place again, Lilith won't last until then. Then…_

"Mm~Hijiri's fried chicken…" Sora suddenly mumbled.

_She's half asleep? Wait a minute… _Arata felt an idea hit him.

"Levi, Selina," he called.

"Yeah?"

"Listen, I've got an idea, but you guys need to help out," Arata began. In a hushed voice, he began explaining the plan…

* * *

><p>"Whoa! So that's the exit!" Arata proclaimed loudly.<p>

"That was too easy!" Selina chimed in.

"We sure ninja'd out of that one easy," Levi agreed.

"You hear that, Sora? We didn't need your help after all," Arata boasted.

There was silence for a moment, then Lilith spoke up.

"As expected, a cliché trick like that would not work on a legendary grimoire…"

"Huh~? What~? You figured out there's something strange about the bottom of your bed, Master?" Sora mumbled sleepily.

"Great! Thanks for the save, Sora!" Arata exclaimed excitedly.

"Huh?"

"Check the bottom of the bed!"

"I'm on it!" Levi shouted.

"Ninja Art: Table Flipping!" She grabbed Arata's bed and lifted it, flinging the piece of furniture into the air. "Bed version!"

"I'm seeing magical interference!" Selina reported as she clicked the shutter of her camera, trained on the wooden bottom of the bed.

With a final click of the camera, a light blue magic circle appeared.

"There! Lilith!" Arata shouted.

"I understand!" Lilith produced a silver pistol and fired it at the magic circle. The bullet instantly destroyed the rune.

The space around them started cracking, then the darkness shattered like the very space itself was encased in an eggshell.

Arata kicked open the door.

"Hurry! Get Lilith to the toilet!" he commanded, which Selina and Levi immediately complied.

Once they turned the corner, Arata relaxed and collapsed onto his bed. "Phew…"

"Pwh…Bwahahahaha!" Sora suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. "You're a sharp one. I didn't expect you to trick me, a grimoire. It definitely was an irrational move."

"Well thanks," Arata smirked.

"I can't wait to see what Theme you pick," Sora mused.

"Speaking of which, is it really necessary to pick a Theme? I did the world-creation spell just fine without one, right?"

"A Theme," a quiet voice came from behind Arata, who turned around, "not only acts as a way to acquire spells, but also as a stabilizer for a mage's magic. Without a Theme, mages with immense magic power are more likely to lose control during spells."

"Arin," Arata addressed calmly. "So that barrier really was your doing."

Kannazuki Arin tilted her head, confused. "…I simply wanted to test the power of the demon lord candidate. I didn't expect you to break out with a cheap trick like that," she stated.

"Hey, I was in a hurry," Arata protested.

"So you resorted to a cheap trick," Sora reasoned.

"Hey!"

Arin bent down and stared at the Codex hanging from Arata's wrist. "A grimoire?"

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Astil Codex. You can call me Sora," Sora introduced herself.

"…I'm Kannazuki Arin, nice to meet you, Sora."

"Can I call you Arin-chan?" Sora asked.

"Mn," Arin nodded slightly.

"…Let me see her for a moment," Arin requested, putting out her palm.

"Oh, okay," Arata unwound the chain and placed the Codex in Arin's hand.

Arin inspected the grimoire closely, her fingers brushing the chains and the blue gem in the lock.

_She really does look like Hijiri…Damn this is freaking me out,_ Arata thought as he inspected Arin's face.

"My master's checking you out, Arin-chan," Sora said suddenly.

"…In a lewd way?"

"I'd say," Sora confirmed gleefully.

"Th-That aside," Arata tried to change the subject. "People keep calling me a demon lord and all that, but what exactly is a demon lord?"

"…The boss of the bad guys?" Arin replied.

"Well, that isn't exactly wrong, I guess."

"And you're him."

"Aren't you supposed to give a more detailed explanation than that?" Arata sighed

"But the headmaster said so," Arin replied.

Arata sighed. _This conversation is getting nowhere…_

"Let's get someone with real sense and talk somewhere else," Arata suggested, leading Arin down the corridor.

* * *

><p>"So now…" Arata spoke up to begin the conversation. He and Arin were now in the school infirmary, which was empty, along with Lilith. Arin sat on a bed, facing the other two.<p>

"…Getting it on before marriage?" Arin guessed.

"Highly enticing," Arata agreed.

"What are you talking about? Get back to the topic!" Lilith retorted.

"As I thought, it's great having you around as a tsukkomi, Lilith. Please stay with me forever," Arata sighed, grasping Lilith's hands in gratitude.

"Eh?" Lilith flushed ruby red.

"…Cheating on your wife already…" Arin mumbled.

"Taking both at once is fine with me too," Arata responded.

"That will be enough out of you!" Lilith shouted as she clenched her fist.

"So…" Arata said a few minutes later, a glowing red punch mark on his cheek. "Mind explaining everything now, Arin-san?"

"…About why I trapped you in the barrier?"

"That was you, Arin-san?" Lilith asked.

"…I didn't intend to trap the others in there, only the demon lord. But you were in there and I didn't feel like waiting, so…"

Lilith heaved a huge sigh. "I went through all that because you could not wait?"

"…The headmaster mentioned that if I placed you all in dire situations, the demon lord may cause a Sabbat," Arin stated.

"Then why?" Lilith demanded.

Arin ignored her, and simply stood up. She held her left hand out with her palm facing Arata. "…Place your hand over mine. You will understand after that."

"Oh…" Arata pressed his right hand over Arin's, noting the cold metal of a small silver ring on her pointer finger. The moment their hands connected, Arin's ring glowed blue.

A shockwave swept through the infirmary, making Arata and Lilith recoil.

Arata felt a throb in his chest, as if he was punched. He removed his hand from Arin's and gripped his chest.

_Wha…This feeling's familiar…_

"What is going on, Arin-san?" Lilith shouted.

"…Connect to the Ira Archive. Execute Theme," Arin chanted quietly. Her ring glowed brighter, with two rings of light covered in runes appearing in her finger as well. Her uniform changed to a black blouse and ruffled skirt, as well as a set of long black robes. She stretched out her left hand, now devoid of the ring, and a book appeared in front of her.

"The Ira Archive? She activated her Magus Mode!" Lilith cried.

"The Magus Mode?"

"The intermediate mode between the Wizard Mode and a regular mage," Arin explained quietly.

"Now to answer your question. My aim is simply to observe the extent of the demon lord's power. This includes the magnitude of the Sabbat he creates when out of control," Arin continued. "My Theme is Ruina, destruction. I destroyed the control his grimoire had over his magic, as well as the magical wall he had inside him. Now he can no longer hold back."

"Destroyed-! Are you for real? It's not as simple as causing just a Sabbat if my master loses control!" Sora shouted. The Astil Codex now pulsed purple, with violet sparks running across the cover.

The pain in Arata's chest intensified, making him collapse to his knees. As he gasped for breath, he noticed his hands and chest had cracks appearing all over them, a purple glow shining through the gaps.

_Just like that time…_ Arata thought as a renewed jolt of pain made him gasp and wheeze.

"No way…Arata is undergoing a transformation into a Phantom?!"

The pain throbbing through Arata intensified yet again, making him scream. Cobweb-shaped cracks suddenly appeared on his shoulder blades.

The surroundings began blackening and disintegrating. "The Sabbat is starting!" Lilith shouted. "Stop this right now or the whole school will be engulfed, Arin-san!"

"Unexpected, but no matter. This is the nature of my Theme, and my research," Arin replied. "This is the closest one can get to Ruina. No matter how immoral, it is the duty of a mage of Ruina to study this."

"However," she continued. "This is more powerful than I predicted."

"My my," the headmaster said lightly, stepping out of the Academy doors. "Arin-chan seriously did a number on us. Though it would be an interesting sight to see the school collapse on us." He looked up at the sky. Hanging high in the evening glow was a pitch-black sun.

In the infirmary, the cracks on Arata's back expanded and broke open like eggshells. With an even louder scream, black-and-gold wings burst out of Arata's shoulder blades, twitching and flapping. A high-pitched sound like a cross between a roar and a shriek filled the room.

"Arata!" Lilith shouted worriedly.

_At this rate, the school, no, the entire town will…_

Lilith bit her lip, then muttered under her breath. In a red glow, she was dressed in her battle suit, with a silver pistol in her hands. "At the very least, I can put you out of your misery personally!"

She fired her gun, but the bullet was deflected by the blade of a glaive.

"Wha-!"

"I can't let you kill him, Sensei. He is my husband, after all," Arin stated, a warning tone in her voice.

"But if we let this go on, the school will…"

"I simply want to find out what lies beyond complete destruction. That's what it means to be a mage," Arin interrupted.

"Oh~! I get it!" A third voice chimed in. Lilith and Arin turned to the direction of the voice, only to see the wall of the infirmary crack, then break open like it was blasted by a bomb.

"So we just have to get rid of him," Fudou Akio concluded cheerfully.

"This is a surprise, really. We go around half the world, deal with a Sabbat, and when we return, the school is on the verge of destruction by another one," Yamana Mira smirked slightly.

"Mira-san and Akio-san…? But both of you are supposed to be still out on your inspection mission!" Lilith gasped.

"That thing? We finished it in a heartbeat and rushed right back!" Akio replied, laughing heartily.

"The breakdown is being suspended…as expected of the Chief of Grimoire Security," Arin said.

"My magic is currently negating the effect with equal destructive power," Mira answered while turning the large light purple crystal ball in her hand. "In the name of Justitia, and the Superbia Archive, I will not allow any impurity sully this Academy."

Through his half-conscious mind, Arata registered what Mira said. _Superbia…the Pride Archive…_

He looked down and saw that most of his arms were completely covered in glowing cracks, and he was quite sure his face was cracking apart too.

"Akio," Mira commanded. "Kill him. He is the source of the Sabbat."

"No mercy from you at all, huh?" Akio sighed. She flipped her skirt out, revealing a glowing rune on her right leg, just above her ankle. Two rings of light appeared, one above the rune and one below, circling her leg.

"You cannot, Akio-san!" Lilith tried to block Akio, but she felt as if her body was frozen to where she stood.

"I can't move…" Arin grunted.

Akio smirked, then began her incantation.

"Connect to the Gula Archive, Execute Theme, Overwrite with Land!" The rune vanished and her hands glowed, rings forming on her fingers.

**=DRIVER ON, PLEASE=**

"Don't hold this against me," she told Arata as she flipped the visor over the ring on her left hand, a topaz ring with a cushion cut, looking like the other Wizard Mode rings. "Henshin!" She scanned her ring just as she flipped the lever.

**=LAND, PLEASE~=**

**=DO-DO-DO DO-DO-DON, DON DO-DO-DON!=**

Akio transformed into her Wizard form, a yellow version with topazes set in the chest area. She cracked her fingers and dashed forwards, instantly reaching Arata.

"Don't blame me in the afterlife, got it?" she told him as she scanned a ring.

**=CHOIINE, KICK STRIKE~! SAIKOU~~=**

Akio lifted her right leg, now ringed by several yellow magic circles and rings of rock. She swung her leg and the impact caused an explosion equivalent to a landmine.

When the dust settled, there was only a trench where Arata was, as if the ground was scooped up.

"ARATA!" Lilith screamed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is kind of a short chapter, plus nothing much original in here. But the next one will have much more orignal content to make up for it.**

**On to my rambles, I found Arata on the anime kind of...inconsistent with his perversion and tastes. Sometimes he's basically sexually harassing people, sometimes he's shy (granted, it's mostly Arin there). On top of that, he has tastes for everything (those who watched the anime or read the manga may know from the barrier potty emergency incident. Part of the reason why I edited so much of that scene). **

**Ok, ramble over! I'd just like to say it's all my opinion, so if you don't agree, the back button's always thefre, unlike SAO's logout button.**


End file.
